Monthly Archives: November 2012

Iain Murphy and Ollie Currie at Delhi airport on their way back from a seven-day trip to India, which was sponsored and organised by Mr Dave Ladhar of the Ladhar Group.

They are pictured with Ian Walker of Walter Thompson Construction Limited and Michael Ladhar from the Ladhar Group. Of particular importance was a visit to The Golden Temple in Amritsar, the stunning and most well-known Gurdwara in India.

For many in the group this was their first visit to India and several days were spent in the Punjab before travelling to Delhi for the remainder of the trip. The colours, the commotion and, most importantly, the culture of India were brought vividly to life in a trip that will remain a memory highlight for years to come

As an Architect, I’ve been designing Care Homes for a long time, now, and I’m still learning!

It seems obvious, but it’s really important to remember that the end product is going to be someone’s actual ‘home’. Most of our Care Homes have to be adaptable to cope with all kinds of care needs but, increasingly, the needs of dementia sufferers have to be considered. From a design point of view, this means that careful attention must be paid to the materials and finishes used in Care Homes.

Since 2003, when Stirling University launched their Dementia Studies for Professionals working in the field of old age and dementia, the University has been one of the leading authorities on dementia and how to care for people suffering from it. They give guidance on how to provide a suitable environment for people with dementia, rating the suitability level as bronze, silver or gold.

I attended one of their open courses in 2005, and another one more recently with Katherine and, while some theories remain just that, many more are being put into practice by more and more Care Providers, and certainly by those that we work with.

With more than 800,000 people in the UK already suffering from dementia, and the figure predicted to double in the next generation, The Alzheimer’s research Trust and Oxford Dementia 2010 consider that dementia is the greatest medical challenge of our age, beyond even that of cancer and heart disease. Read more…